Protect the beauty of unpaved road

I attended the April 5 meeting regarding the paving of Maple Road and feel compelled to comment upon it.

My husband, John, and I have raised our sons and resided on Drewville Road for almost 22 years. John grew up on Peter Road in Marnell Estates.

For the record, our family opposes the paving of Maple Road. We agree wholeheartedly with the many who spoke in favor of improving, not destroying, the bucolic nature of this beautiful road.

Although my position was firmly established before the meeting, I was curious to hear the arguments presented by the residents who'd signed the petition asking for the road to be paved.

As I listened to the speakers, it was interesting to me that by and large those families resided in the new homes in Enoch Crosby Estates and not on Enoch Crosby Road, Ivy Hill Road or Maple Road itself.

More to the point, the arguments presented by those residents hinged upon unfounded beliefs regarding the safety of asphalt vs. gravel.

Speaker after speaker appealed to the board's collective conscience to protect their children, without any concrete evidence that paving would accomplish this end. Few if any of those speakers mentioned environmental issues or impact.

No one sold these families a bill of goods; they all bought their houses with full awareness that the only access to their homes would be a dirt road and all the inconveniences that come along with one.

There was much emotion on both sides, but the bottom line is that the residents in favor of paving presented no compelling factual evidence that a paved Maple Road was a better investment in the future of Southeast.

Lacking that evidence, I urge you not to make a decision that will forever change the nature of this historic area.